Updated: President Tinubu Loses Appeal, Chicago State University to Release Academic Records to Atiku Abubakar

In a significant legal development, President Bola Tinubu has lost his emergency appeal to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago, attempting to prevent Chicago State University (CSU) from releasing his academic records to former Nigerian Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.

Judge Nancy L. Maldonado delivered the ruling on Tinubu’s emergency application, overruling his objections to the previous ruling by Magistrate Judge Gilbert and thereby adopting the ruling in full. This decision comes after SK Blog reported on September 23 that Tinubu had appealed against Judge Jeffrey T. Gilbert’s order for CSU to release his academic records to Atiku Abubakar.

The civil case was initiated by Atiku Abubakar in an effort to establish that Tinubu was not eligible to hold the position of Nigerian president, despite his election victory in February 2023, alleging that Tinubu had presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

INEC had declared Tinubu as the winner of the election, with Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party coming in second and Peter Obi of the Labour Party in third place.

In her judgment, Justice Maldonado stated, “For the foregoing reasons, the Court overrules President Tinubu’s objections to Magistrate Judge Gilbert’s recommended ruling, and therefore adopts the ruling in full. Mr. Abubakar’s Application is therefore granted.”

Given the upcoming deadline before the Supreme Court of Nigeria, set for October 5, 2023, Justice Maldonado established an expedited schedule for the completion of discovery. She directed CSU to produce all relevant and non-privileged documents by October 2, 2023, and ordered the Rule 30(b)(6) deposition of CSU’s corporate designee to be completed by October 3, 2023.

The ruling, titled “Memorandum Opinion and Order,” explained that Atiku Abubakar had initiated this action under federal statute 28 U.S.C. § 1782, allowing a federal district court to order documents or testimony for use in a foreign legal proceeding. Atiku Abubakar sought records and testimony from CSU related to Tinubu’s diploma and graduation from the university to support his challenge to the election results.